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.Thatwas left up to Yankees and abolitionists who, in Southern eyes, haddestroyed what the Founders wrought and caused the Confederacyto be necessary.There were no competitors for election to the national government,named Confederate to show its obeisance to the states and localities.There were few contested races for the Congress, as pre-war conser-vative Southern cooperators moved to reassert their leadership and toexclude the fire-eaters from nomination as too radical.The South wassupposed to display unity in the face of Yankee aggression.But theideal never was truly achieved.Soon congressmen were opposing thegovernment and its military and foreign policies.One historian, in a burst of present-mindedness, called those in fa-vor of the Confederate government Nationalists, while those op-posed, interested in individualism, liberty, and states rights even atthe cost of losing the war were named Libertarians.The Confederategovernment, headed by Jefferson Davis, an ardent Libertarian advo-cate, at least in theory, sacrificed the conservative cause of statesrights in all of its manifestations (governance, aristocracy, slavery,racism) for the radical causes of nationalism and centralization to tryand win the war.Although stymied by the inertia of an inefficient bu-reaucracy and opposition from many Libertarian governors (espe-cially in Georgia and North Carolina), the Confederate administra-tion at Richmond acted with revolutionary zeal, often beating theLincoln government s response to the same issues in the North.The Rebel authorities conscripted troops and labor and materiel,created a viable national army and a secret service (which manycredit as the best organized covert American administration until theadvent of the Central Intelligence Agency), suspended the writ ofhabeas corpus, and issued rules for manufacturing, railroad opera-tion, and allocation of vital raw materials.It impressed goods, fixedconsumer prices, brought white women and blacks of both gendersinto the wartime workplace, and brought about an astounding indus-trialization and urbanization.It also tried to create a cotton shortageto influence European governments to support its bid for continuedindependence. CONSTITUTION, CONFEDERATE " 83Finally, the Confederacy destroyed the very reason the Old Southleft the Union, the cornerstone of its uniqueness, the institution ofslavery.Under prodding from Judah P.Benjamin, Jefferson Davis,Gen.Robert E.Lee, and others, over vociferous Libertarian oppo-sition, the Confederate government began to enroll slaves as soldiersin 1865.The Davis administration had fought on in every imagina-ble way for Southern self-determination despite continued militarylosses, winning many battles but losing the campaigns and, ulti-mately, the war.It is possible, however, that the Confederate gov-ernment did a more credible job than many modern critics have beenwilling to admit.CONSCIENCE WHIGS.See WHIG PARTY.CONSTITUTION, CONFEDERATE.As each Southern state se-ceded separately, they tacitly agreed to unify and form a central gov-ernment.South Carolina, the first state to leave the Union, conferredwith other Southern states about to follow suit and seceded with sup-port from Mississippi and Florida.In February 1861, delegates fromseceded states Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida,and Texas met in Montgomery, Alabama, and established a new na-tion, the Confederate States of America.Texas, having seceded laterthan the others, sent their delegation in March.It agreed with thatwhich had preceded its arrival.The delegates chose Montgomery as the first capital of the inde-pendent South, the Cradle of the Confederacy, due to its central lo-cation and distance from the coast, unlike the port cities Charleston,Mobile, Savannah, and New Orleans, which were vulnerable to Unionnaval expeditions.When Virginia seceded as a part of the second se-cession movement, Richmond became the new capital of the Con-federacy.Larger, more cosmopolitan, Richmond represented the ded-ication to the Border South.It also typified Southern defiance with itsproximity to the North.With less than a month before Abraham Lincoln s inauguration,the delegates at Montgomery hastened to form a solid government.The convention did some unconventional things: acted as a constitu-tional convention and elected a provisional president and vice presi-dent.It acted as a provisional unicameral Congress for five sessions 84 " CONSTITUTION, CONFEDERATEfrom 18 February 1861, to 22 February 1862, acts which, in republi-can theory, are not traditionally carried out by the body that authorsthe Constitution.But the Montgomery delegates knew they were partof a unique moment in American history.The Southerners commitment to a written constitution demon-strated their dedication to the American way of government
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